Washington, February 23: Public workers union protests against the cuts in pay and benefits and firing of thousands of public servants in the state of Wisconsin will spread to other US states, union officials say.
The officials at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which sponsors the Wisconsin protests, told a Media correspondent on Tuesday that the union protests are beginning to spread to other states suffering from budget deficit.
They said the newly elected Republican governors of those states are attempting “to bust the unions.”
“This is a coordinated effort by the ultraconservatives, Wall Street, corporations and the Chamber of Commerce to fight back and to strip the voices of the working families and working people all over this country,” said Lee Saunders, a top AFSCME union official.
“It is spreading to Ohio, Florida, Indiana, etc. and we are going to do similar things in other states and say enough is enough,” he added.
For over a week now, tens of thousands of state workers in Wisconsin have been protesting the Republican Governor Scott Walker’s decision to make widespread cuts in pay and benefits and lay off thousands of public servants.
Walker, however, has rejected any negotiable solution to the crisis in the United States.
“For us to be involved in a good faith negotiation, we have to offer something. We do not have anything to offer, because we do not have any money,” Walker said.
Walker further pointed out that he will not retreat and may fire 10 thousand state workers in order to balance the books.
Meantime, union leaders say they are encountering the greatest challenge to their collective bargaining rights since the 1930s thanks to cash-strapped state governments and new Republican governors determined to weaken the power of public unions.
“This is part of a national assault on working people,” says Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
With so many Republican governors elected last November and now in charge, and dozens of states facing huge recession red ink, many are considering moving against public workers unions representing teachers, firemen, cops and state employees.
“Public sector unions tend to support the Democrats. So, a lot of newly elected Republican governors … are attacking a lot of the interests that were opposing them in the election,” Etha Pollack from Economic Policy Institute argues.
——–Agencies